News That Caught Our Eye #70

Published on August 6, 2025

Summary

OpenAI will provide U.S. federal agencies access to ChatGPT Enterprise next year for $1. California approves regulations restricting how employers use AI tools in hiring while Illinois bans AI therapists. The UC Berkeley Labor Center publishes a database of unions’ collective bargaining agreements governing workplace use of AI while Gizmodo investigates how automation is deepening worker exploitation. Two federal judges withdraw rulings containing serious errors suspected to be caused by unauthorized use of AI. Henry Farrell and Hahrie Han argue that scholarship on AI and democracy focuses too much on deliberation and sortition, missing how democratic politics really work. Read more in this week's AI News That Caught Our Eye.

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AI for Governance

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT to the government for $1

Ashley Capoot on August 6, 2025 in CNBC

“OpenAI on Wednesday announced it will offer its ChatGPT Enterprise product to U.S. federal agencies for $1 through the next year, making its technology available to the federal executive branch workforce at ‘essentially no cost.’ The company has been working to deepen its ties to lawmakers and regulators in recent months, and it will open its first office in Washington, D.C., early next year. OpenAI said participating agencies will get access to its frontier models through ChatGPT Enterprise, and it will also offer access to features like Advanced Voice Mode for an additional 60-day period. The company has partnered with the U.S. General Services Administration to launch the initiative.”

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AI for Governance

Two US judges withdraw rulings after attorneys question accuracy

Mike Scarcella on July 29, 2025 in Reuters

“Federal judges in Mississippi and New Jersey have withdrawn written rulings in a pair of unrelated lawsuits after lawyers in the cases said they contained factual inaccuracies and other serious errors…A person familiar with the circumstances in the New Jersey case said research produced using artificial intelligence was included in a draft decision that was inadvertently placed on the public docket before a review process. A temporary assistant had prepared the research, the person said, adding that the court's chambers has a strict policy against the unauthorized use of AI to support opinions.”

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AI for Governance

DOD Establishes Policy for AI Use in Public Affairs Activities

Jane Edwards on July 29, 2025 in Executive Gov

“The Department of Defense has released an instruction establishing policy, outlining responsibilities and providing procedures for the appropriate use of artificial intelligence tools in performing DOD public affairs activities. Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, approved the new DOD instruction on public affairs use of AI, which took effect on Monday….The DOD instruction outlines five guiding principles for the use of AI capabilities in public affairs activities: mission relevant; understand benefits and limitations; uphold legal and ethical standards and protect privacy and civil liberties; security and responsible AI use; and transparency and oversight of generative AI. DOD components should develop and implement a plan for personnel to exercise oversight and approval of generative AI outputs before using generative AI capabilities to generate information for release to the public, according to the document.”

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Governing AI

California Approves Rules Regulating AI in Employment Decision-making

Rachel Long and Y. Douglas Yang on July 30, 2025 in Labor & Employment Law Blog

“Effective October 1, 2025, updated regulations from the California Civil Rights Council will formally restrict the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in employment decision-making by California employers. In the employment context, these tools can be applied in a litany of ways to manage the workforce, including to screen resumes, make predictions about an applicant or employee, measure an applicant or employee’s skills or abilities, direct job advertisements and recruiting materials to targeted groups, and screen, evaluate, and/or recommend applications or employees.”

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Governing AI

Italian antitrust authority launches investigation into Meta's WhatsApp AI chatbot

Alice Carnevali on July 30, 2025 in Euronews

“Italian antitrust watchdog has launched an investigation into Meta, claiming the tech giant is effectively forcing WhatsApp users to use its artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The Italian antitrust authority Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) has accused Meta of violating the European Union's competition laws by integrating its AI chatbot into its messaging app WhatsApp, potentially abusing its ‘dominant position’ in the market to promote its own AI services…[AGCM] said that by linking Meta AI with WhatsApp, Meta appears to be steering its users into the AI market not through fair competition, but by forcing the two services together in violation of EU law.”

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Governing AI

How AI Is Taking Over Your Government

Natalie Bettendorf and David Sirota on July 28, 2025 in The Lever

“The Trump administration just unveiled a sweeping AI Action Plan that aims to achieve global dominance in the industry. Hiding deep within the document? A previously rejected scheme to ban oversight of tech oligarchs and let artificial intelligence run wild…Natalie Bettendorf speaks with tech experts about the challenges and political realities of reining in AI — and why Congress and the president seem determined to terminate AI regulations.”

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Governing AI

Gov Pritzker Signs Legislation Prohibiting AI Therapy in Illinois

Governor J.B. Pritzker on August 4, 2025 in State of Illinois

"Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation on Friday that protects patients by limiting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in therapy and psychotherapy services. The Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act prohibits anyone from using AI to provide mental health and therapeutic decision-making, while allowing the use of AI for administrative and supplementary support services for licensed behavioral health professionals."

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AI and Public Engagement

AI and Democratic Publics

Henry Farrell & Hahrie Han on August 1, 2025 in Knight First Amendment Institute

“In this paper, we argue that the existing paradigm of democracy driving scholarship about its relationship to AI highlights the wrong questions. The essay describes this broad paradigm—which emphasizes the benefits of deliberation and sortition—and explains why it is insufficient for understanding or acting in a healthy democracy. We argue that we should instead focus on enduring democratic publics and how they shape collective behavior. That would raise very different questions. How might AI reshape these publics and the feedback loops that they depend on? Will this contribute to democratic stability or undermine it? Such questions would underpin a broader and different research agenda on AI and democracy than the one we have today.”

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AI and Problem Solving

3 ways AI can help cities add a human touch to service delivery

News Staff on July 18, 2025 in Bloomberg Cities Network

“As cities explore how to employ artificial intelligence in more advanced ways, some of the most promising uses aren’t about public-facing tools like chatbots. Instead, the real breakthroughs may be in finding new ways to use AI to handle some of the most time-consuming tasks that bog down government workers. That’s one focus of Stanford Professor Daniel Ho’s work. He’s partnering with cities like San Francisco to both offload internal tasks to AI and cut down on the number of those tasks altogether, for example by identifying unnecessary reporting rules embedded in city regulations. The goal? Freeing up staff to spend more time on the parts of their jobs that really help residents.”

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AI Infrastructure

AI Security Institute launches international coalition to safeguard AI development

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, AI Security Institute and The Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP on July 30, 2025 in GovUK

“Bringing together international partners, tech companies and civil society, the UK will spearhead pioneering new work which will help make sure AI systems behave predictably and as designed – supporting the ‘Plan for Change’ by enabling us to unlock the full benefits of AI while providing strong national security foundations. AI Alignment is a crucial field in AI research - focused on making sure the technology always acts in our interests and rooting out harmful behaviours which could pose a risk to society…The project will fund cutting-edge research into AI alignment - including ways to make sure AI systems continue to follow our goals as the technology becomes more capable and finding techniques to ensure AI systems remain transparent and responsive to human oversight.”

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AI and Education

Meta brought AI to rural Colombia. Now students are failing exam

Laura Rodríguez Salamanca on July 30, 2025 in Rest of World

“When Meta embedded AI bots in its apps, even students in the most remote corners of Colombia gained access. But rather than boosting learning, it’s getting in the way…Chemistry teacher María Intencipa misses the good old days — last year — when her small school in rural Colombia was sheltered from the artificial intelligence revolution by its remoteness…then, last year, AI metastasized to almost every class. Teachers across the school noticed a surge in unusually high-quality answers that didn’t resemble their students’ typical work. Homework and essays suddenly featured erudite arguments, sophisticated vocabulary, and points that had not been taught in class or the textbooks…Despite the burst in brilliance, more kids were failing exams, teachers said.”

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AI and Labor

How Are Labor Unions Negotiating AI, Surveillance, And Digital Tech?

Shalin Jyotishi on July 28, 2025 in Forbes

“The University of California-Berkeley’s Labor Center has announced a new data tool to help labor union negotiators, researchers, media, and policymakers better understand the state of play of union negotiations around the digital economy. [The tool] offers insights into how labor unions are responding to AI, electronic monitoring and surveillance, and other emerging technologies…In recent years, labor unions have taken aim at shaping AI and other digital technologies’ impact on workers, including to improve job quality and working conditions…With more employers seeking to accelerate the implementation of AI and other digital technologies in workplaces, workers are poised to continue to see ways to negotiate their uses.”

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AI and Labor

The End of Work as We Know It

Luc Olinga on July 27, 2025 in Gizmodo

“For centuries, work has defined us. It has given us identity, purpose, and status in society. But what happens when work, our source of income, itself begins to disappear? Not because of war, depression, or outsourcing, but because of algorithms. What does it mean to work in an AI-driven economy? I spent this month of July interviewing several experts from diverse corners of the labor landscape. Through these conversations, a complex and often contradictory picture emerges, one filled with both promise and peril, efficiency and exploitation, displacement and dignity…The real question is no longer whether AI will change work. It is whether we will let it change what it means to be human.”

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